


Memento

by leejenowo



Series: Tattoo [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, I Made Myself Cry, M/M, big fat uwu, honestly im just soft now, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-26 01:32:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14391390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leejenowo/pseuds/leejenowo
Summary: Taeyong's memories are never enough. He wants to remember his boys in the best way he can: tattoos.





	Memento

**Author's Note:**

> I was feeling really soft and it made me uwu and honestly im stuck with Maze so i decided to write this

When Taeyong finally went to bed that night, it was already well past midnight. He had been in the studio writing new lyrics and the time had just passed without him realizing. Today was just one of those days where he wanted to be alone, away from the chaos all the members could bring, and the others understood that well. Taeyong always insisted that he wasn’t really the designated leader of NCT 2018, only the leader of NCT 127, but the members had silently decided to rely on him. Even the dreamies looked up to him despite not having a lot of activities together. It was nice, he liked the attention, and he was proud of taking care of his members, but he needed the time off.

When he entered the 127 dorm that night, everything was quiet and he was happy about it. They had a schedule tomorrow and he didn’t want any of the members to be grumpy because they didn’t get any sleep, Sicheng in particular. The boy would usually just stay quiet the whole day if he was tired and Taeyong didn’t like it. He washed his face quickly and went to the room that he shared with Johnny. When he passed by Jaehyun and Donghyuck’s room, he heard hushed talking and Donghyuck’s laugh. So not everyone was sleeping apparently...

He quickly knocked on the door and the room turned quiet. “Go to sleep, we have a schedule tomorrow…”

Satisfied when the noise died down, he made his way to his room and entered quietly, closing the door behind him. He didn’t open the light because Johnny was really sensitive to light changes and he would have woken up. So he made his way in the dark, bumping on basically everything his roommate left on his side of the room. Taeyong wasn’t really the nagging type and he didn’t care if Johnny was messy, as long as he was able to find his things and that nothing crossed the invisible line he had drawn in the middle of the room. It was mostly just clothes anyways. When he finally got to his bed, he crashed on it, turning on his right side, and closed his eyes, ready to fall in a deep slumber. He was careful not to lay on his left side in order to avoid putting pressure on the tattoos he had just uncovered and cleaned. The newest additions just under his ribs were still a bit sore and he didn’t want to compromise the healing time so he decided to sleep on his least comfortable side. He was about to fall asleep when an arm suddenly was wrapped around his side and he hissed in discomfort when it pressed on his new tattoos.

Johnny, feeling the stickiness of the ointment Taeyong had applied, realized his boyfriend had gotten a new tattoo and he was curious about it, all thoughts of sleep leaving his mind.

“You got a new tattoo?” Johnny was whispering close to his ear and Taeyong felt a shiver go down his spine. He hummed in approval and leaned in Johnny’s touch, pressing his back against Johnny’s chest.

“I got 2 actually…” He closed his eyes and let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

“The stylists won’t be happy about that…” The low vibrations of Johnny’s words resonated through his own body and he felt even more sleepy. He didn’t care about the stylists, he wanted all his boys to know how much he cared about them. And if that meant getting a new tattoo every time one of them turned 18, then so be it and screw the stylist team and the makeup artists. They had been fine with hiding his previous 12 tattoos, 2 more wouldn’t hurt anyone. Taeyong wasn’t stupid anyway and he didn’t get anything tattooed on obvious parts of his body.

He had Taeil’s moon hidden behind his right ear. Taeil was a quiet member and he resembled a moon crescent. But every once in a while, the full moon was shining brightly and just like that, Taeil also was. Taeyong loved the moon because he could look at it shining from afar and he always felt at peace. The celestial object had its own gravitational force and everyone was drawn to it in different ways. Some members were closer to Taeil than others, like Johnny who got along pretty well with the oldest member.

Johnny’s tattoo was hidden behind his left ear. A little shooting star that represented everything Taeyong had ever wished for: a companion in life, someone who understood him better than everyone else, even when he didn’t know himself. All his members were stars, but Johnny was the one who had always been the brightest in Taeyong’s life and he was grateful. If Taeyong had not been the leader, Johnny would have taken the role of the pole star.

He remembered the tattoo that had hurt the most. The sharp, angular points of the mountains he had gotten behind his knee where there for Yuta. He knew Yuta was a man who loved nature and he loved hiking so Taeyong thought it would fit him well. Mountains are tall and strong and manly and well Yuta was all of that. He was strong and independent. Even in this different country, he was able to stand by himself, like a mountain.

His most recent tattoo, previous to the ones he had gotten today, was the one on the side of his right ring finger. He had gotten a small crown on the day Kun was finally announced as an official member of the group. He had been with them for so long already, even appearing on NCT life with other members, but SM wouldn't give anything to work on after the Chinese version of Without U came out. Taeyong wanted the oldest Chinese member to know he was important to him and he was important for the whole team too. The crown was reserved for a king and in chess, the king was the most important piece. If the king fell, the rest of the team fell with him.

Doyoung had cried when he had first seen the tattoo Taeyong got for him. It was a small flower located on the inside of his left elbow and he knew his bandmate would love it. When he was asked why a rose, he had to think about his answer carefully. Giving a flower to someone was a symbol of love and recognition and that’s what Taeyong felt for Doyoung. He was grateful to have him as a friend and he was someone he could count on to help when he had too many things to do by himself. So this flower was a sign of recognition for Doyoung’s hard work.

Ten was confused when he found out Taeyong had gotten a tattoo of a tower for him. The little tower drawing hidden on the back of his ankle and it had taken Ten a lot of explanation to finally realize that it indeed represented him well. The older had told him that it represented him, standing tall and in the center of everything. Ten was small, the smallest of the team in fact, but somehow people always noticed him first when they were dancing. Like a tower, he was the center of attention when he did what he did best.

When the time came for Taeyong to think about what he could get tattooed for Jaehyun, he found himself in a dead end. Nothing seemed to fit him enough. It was dumb, but one day he caught Jaehyun changing a lightbulb in the dorm and that’s when it clicked. Jaehyun was bright and his smile was enough to light up a room, just like a light bulb would. So the next day, he came home with a new tattoo, high on the back of his neck. It would eventually be covered by hair, but as long as Jaehyun knew it was there, all was good.

Sicheng knew about the tattoo Taeyong was going to get him before it was actually inked just beneath his left shoulder blade. The Chinese boy was sensitive and Taeyong wanted to make sure he would like the tattoo he would get, so he went to his room. Taeyong asked him what he would do if he had alone time and Sicheng told him he would go to the beach because he likes hearing the sound of the waves and smell the salt. When Taeyong came back, it was with waves on his back.

Jungwoo and Yukhei were complimentary to Taeyong. You couldn’t think of one and not the other. Therefore, Taeyong tried to find a duo that can’t be separated so he could get them tattooed together. He finally came up with the idea of getting a cloud for Jungwoo and a lightning bolt for Yukhei. Jungwoo was a somewhat dreamy boy and even in a bad mood, when the clouds are at their darkest, he’s inoffensive. Yukhei, however, was loud and flashy, sometimes scary for people who don’t know him, like a thunderstorm. So getting that little duo tattooed on the ribs on his left side just seemed fitting.

Mark’s tattoo was a mistake if you asked Taeyong. If you asked Johnny or Mark himself, they thought it was pretty funny. When Johnny heard Taeyong say he wanted to get a slice of pizza for Mark, he laughed at him and told him it was a bad idea. Instead, he had printed him what Taeyong thought to be a maple leaf to represent Mark’s native country. But what he didn’t know was that Johnny had actually printed marijuana leaf. His tattoo artist didn’t say anything and had just drawn it between his right thumb and index. When he came back home that afternoon, Mark had laughed and said it was ok because Canada was going to legalize weed soon. Obviously, Taeyong went back to get it covered with an actual maple leaf, but they still laughed about it occasionally.

And now his newest addition, just below his left ribs, was another duo of tattoos. Renjun was now 18 and Jeno’s birthday was in just a couple of days, but he knew what he wanted already so he had gotten both done early this morning. He wanted to surprise Jeno on his birthday and he knew Renjun was waiting impatiently for him to reveal the piece that made Taeyong think of him. Taeyong had gotten something quite minimalistic, just like all his other tattoos and he knew he would have to explain the meaning of the lines and dots that were now inked. Renjun’s piece was a small line above a longer one. To Taeyong, it was like a sun setting far away, in the horizon, because that’s how he saw Renjun. He was calm and beautiful, and his energy was pure. Jeno was the opposite. The tattoo represented a long line, the horizon, and above was a small dot. Jeno was the rising sun, full of energy and happiness. If the sun didn’t rise, it wouldn’t set.  
Johnny was softly tracing the lines and dot of his new tattoo, careful not to hurt his lover.

“I like them and I’m sure Renjun and Jeno will be happy about it too.” Johnny kissed his star behind Taeyong’s ear and the smaller boy shivered in his arm again.

“Why is there such a big space between both tattoos, though?” Johnny was right, there was a space of a few inches between the 2 newest pieces.

“It’s for the mid-day sun, the highest and brightest one.” Taeyong smiled softly thinking about the next drawing he would be getting in just some months. “It’s not high enough yet.”

“It’s for Donghyuck…” Taeyong nodded at Johnny’s words. The next sun was indeed for Donghyuck. He had nothing planned for Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung yet, but he knew he would find something soon enough.

“You know which one of your tattoos is my favorite?” Taeyong was almost asleep, but Johnny’s question made him open his eyes again.

“Your star?” It was the easiest guess to take and Taeyong thought he was right, but he felt Johnny’s fingers leave his side to gently rest just above his heart.

“No,” his fingers were tracing the black circle he had first gotten tattooed back in 2016, “it’s this one.”

“Really? Why the NCT circle?”

“Because it represents us, all of us. It’s a perfect circle made up of millions of points that face each other. It’s for us right now, and us in the future. We’ll expand and gain more members and they’ll just become another point in the circle. And you can’t take out the lost points either, because then it wouldn’t be a circle anymore. We’re a family right now, we were before, and we’ll be in the future. You love us enough to get a tattoo for each of us. And I love you…”

“Johnny…” Taeyong wanted to cry because Johnny sometimes looked or acted dumb, but he had his way with words and he loved him too. “I love you. All of you, of NCT. The past, the present and even the future you. I will always.”

And they fell asleep, Johnny’s hand on Taeyong’s chest right above his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/leejenowo) or on [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/taehasus) maybe?


End file.
